(Image source: reuters) Increased mortgage interest rates are accelerating the decline in affordability as highlighted in the September existing home sales data, which was down 1.9 percent for the month. The Nation Association of Realtors revised the August sales pace by .090 million units. Affordability is at 5 year low for the month of September. As we saw last week from the big banks’ third quarter earnings, their mortgage operations saw a huge decline especially from refinancing. All the homebuilder stocks are down. Housing continues to be a mixed bag.